Sunday, 11 December 2016

What Is The Point Of Electing A Government/Parliament ?

On 23rd June 2016, the country was asked whether
it wanted to Remain in the EU, or whether it wanted to Leave the EU. The eventual
result was that Leave won by 52% - 48%. Since then, we have had protests by
Remain supporters (many of whom later admitted that they had not even bothered to vote
in the Referendum) and constant carping
by bitter Remainer MP’s (especially, but not limited to, Lib-Dem MP’s) upset that
the masses did not heed their scaremongering.

We have had all manner of excuses from the Remainers, from
complaining that the masses did not know what they were voting for, to trying
to coerce Government by claiming that how we left the EU was not on the
Referendum Ballot. We even have some of them claiming that there should be a
second Referendum to decide on the terms of our Brexit.

The fact remains that when the Ballot papers went out, a
simple question was asked. That question was whether we wanted to Leave or
Remain in the EU. The Government (which was run by Cameron at the time), even
put it in black and white that ‘The Government will implement whatever you
decide’.

Since the Country voted to Leave, Cameron decided to pack
his bags and leave the whole business to somebody else to clear up. This
resulted in a long-winded Conservative Leadership election which eventually led
to Theresa May becoming Prime Minister. In the meantime, we had the likes of
Nicola Sturgeon making threats to hold another Scottish Referendum because
Scotland voted to Remain. We have had the likes of Tim Farron (who is MP for a
constituency that voted to Leave) trying to stir up as much trouble as he can (which
fortunately is extremely limited as he only has 9 MP’s in his party), and we
have watched the Labour Party tearing itself to pieces as they all bitch and
squabble amongst each other without being able to come up with a coherent
policy on what they should do OR where they stand on the matter.

UKIP also began dissolving into a civil war as Nigel Farage
decided to step down, leaving them to run a leadership contest which resulted
in Diane James being voted as new Leader, only for her to then change her mind
and hand the reins back to Farage while they had another go at electing a new
Leader – which they finally managed to do when Paul Nuttall got the nod a few
weeks ago. But, despite their internal civil war (and a few actual punch-ups),
we all know where UKIP stands on Brexit as their raison d’etre has always been
to get the UK out of the EU.

Unfortunately, another consequence of all the delay in
triggering Article 50 has been that various individuals and groups have had
more than enough time to organise themselves such that we now have the
ridiculous situation that everything is being decided in the Law Courts.

It started when Gina Miller decided to launch litigation
to say that the Government did not have the right to trigger Article 50 without
the consent of Parliament. This resulted in the High Court agreeing with her and
sparking another war of words over who actually runs the country – Government or
High Court Judges.

The Government decided to appeal the High Court decision and
as a result, last week saw the Supreme Court convene in front of no less than
ELEVEN Judges to decide who has the power to do what. However, by the time it
arrived at the Supreme Court, it wasn’t
just Gina Miller’s lawyers that wanted their say. There were legal
representatives sent by the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government, the
Northern Irish Government and then a whole slew of other ‘interested parties’.
It ended up as four whole days of dreary (and often unintelligible) dialogue by
a whole slew of Barristers pushing argument and counter argument.

Now, over the weekend, has emerged details of yet another
group of people who are planning to take legal action to ‘shape’ the terms of
Brexit. The appellants this time are Peter Wilding, chairman of pressure group
British Influence, and Adrian Yalland, a
Conservative lobbyist who voted Leave.

Given that we know we already have to wait until the New
Year before we know the result of the Supreme Court hearing, we now have the
prospect of another long drawn out legal case. It is going to be a long drawn
out affair because if the Appellants actually win in the High Court, then one
can assured that the Government will then contest that as well and the whole
thing will end up in the Supreme Court again.

And who is to say that in the meantime somebody else will
not try and raise yet another Legal case against the Government, further
delaying the whole process, or that another appeal would be launched in the event that the Government actually win the current case in the Supreme Court ?

In my mind, the whole thing is now causing a Constitutional
Crisis in the UK because if the Supreme Court rules against the Government
again, and this new Legal case is also brought forward, then we have to start
asking what on earth Parliament (or Government) is for ?

The way that UK Democracy works is that every 5 years
(currently), the present Government is dissolved and the question is put to the
country as to whom it wants to run the country for the next 5 years. As a
result, millions of people cast their vote to have their say (of course,
millions also abstain as is their right). It is a tried and trusted method of
discovering who ‘The People’ want running the Country. It has evolved over
several hundred years, with the rules about who can and cannot vote evolving
with the process during that time. The system is certainly not perfect, but it
is what it is and it is what we have.

But, whether you are a Leaver or a Remainer, the people bringing these court actions need to be very
careful with what they are doing. Because the way things are going, we could
end up with the untenable position that every decision the Government make is
being constantly challenged in a Court of Law. You don’t need me to tell you
that such a scenario will inevitably end in complete and utter anarchy, and, in
all probability, significant civil unrest.

It all ends with the simple question:

Just who runs the United Kingdom. Is it Parliament or the Law
Courts ?

A Government is elected to Govern. Parliament is elected to
hold the Government to account. If every decision the Government makes can be
challenged in the Law Courts, then who is actually running the country ?

So, if the Government loses in the Supreme Court, then I have
to ask the question that is the title of this blog:

About Me

I was born in Wales way back in the year of 1963. I am bilingual - fluent in both Welsh and English - but can also lay claim to having some limited conversational abilities in French, Dutch and German.
My favourite sport is Rugby Union, which I played for more than 30 years until forced to retire due to injury. Consequently, I am a bit bigger than your average guy in that I am 6 foot tall and currently weigh 170lbs.
I am an accomplished musician having played in several brass bands and orchestras, therefore I can play a multitude of musical instruments.